


i'm taking back the life you stole

by orphan_account



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Drama, F/M, LMAO, M/M, Multi, Murder, htgawm au, one is flash forwards to the jason's death, rhe other is them trying to figure out who killed.....someone else i can't say who, so much drama, there are two storylines
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-14 22:44:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10545608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Five teens get entangled in a web of lies and secrets that cost two people their lives. It's not a simple thing to figure out how to get away with murder.HTGAWM AU, but you don't have to have watched the show to read.Updates: Revamped/edited 4.14.17 / Orphaned 4.26.17 (i might start it again later Who knows)





	1. say goodbye to the life you made

**Author's Note:**

> i dropped everythivg to start this because the similarities between riverdale and htgawm are literally?? everywhere??? like holy shit it's kind of eerie
> 
> anyways hope u enjoy!!!!!!
> 
> (and yes everything will be a TCFSR reference bc i'm a punk ass bitch)

_The air is filled with joy and spirit. Cheers echo across the clearing. Fireworks burst in the sky, lighting it up with shades of red and blue._

_There's a jubilancy in the town that can only be felt a few nights a year. It's a rare, special feeling taking roots in the center of the forest and blooming all across the town._

_But the blossom of joy hasn't reached a certain group huddled in the depths of the woods._

_There are four people in the woods on July fourth. One of them is a ghost. Three of them are panicking._

_"Stop acting like a baby!" one hisses._

_"Do not tell me how to feel right now, Kevin!"_

_"Look, Betty—"_

_"Shh!"_

_Everyone freezes, hearing footsteps approaching their location. Betty breathes shallowly._

_"Hey guys."_

_"Ah!" Betty jumps and turns around to see a familiar face. "Oh! Archie."_

_"Sorry it took so long," Archie says, breathless. "I went back to get this."_

_He holds up a large golden object. A trophy. A cheerleader, standing on top of a pedestal._

_"Take that back right now!" Betty cries. Her panicked cry pierces the warm air._

_"No, it's smart." A different voice. Betty turns towards the source—Veronica, slightly huddled, folded in on herself despite the July heat._

_"Veronica's right," Kevin says. "We can't have a…murder weapon. We have to clean it and put it back."_

_"Hide it in plain sight," Veronica murmurs. She makes eye contact with Kevin, who swallows thickly._

_"After we bury the body," Archie suggests._

_"No. Absolutely not. We leave the body where it is," Betty says._

_"I'm with Betty," Kevin says nervously._

_"The body is what gets us caught!" Archie argues._

_"We can't drag a body all across town on one of the busiest nights of the year!" Betty points out._

_Veronica sighs. "She's right."_

_"Either way, we're going to jail!" Kevin cries hysterically. "Think about it! Our DNA is everywhere."_

_"Shut up!" Veronica hisses._

_"We're murderers!"_

_"Say it a little louder, will you?" Archie crosses his arms. "None of us know what we're doing here, okay?"_

_"Of course we don't know what we're doing! This is murder!"_

_"Shh! Look, we're not going to decide here…by ourselves."_

_"What do you suggest?" Betty says angrily._

_"We flip a coin."_

_Kevin flings his arms in the air. "I am not letting a coin decide whether I go to jail or not!"_

_"We don't have time to argue! Do you have a better idea?"_

_Silence._

_Archie sighs and rummages in his pockets. "Okay. Heads, we go get the body. Tails, we leave it where it is."_

_He tosses the coin into the air._

* * *

 

**three weeks earlier**

"Hello and welcome to Riverdale High's first end-of year assembly!" Cheryl Blossom's honey-sweet voice echoes through the gym. She smiles and gazes across the audience.

Archie Andrews leans back in his seat. He shares a glance with Reggie Mantle, who's sitting next to him.

"Ready for the race, Archie?" Reggie says, winking.

Archie grins nervously.

"For the first of these assemblies, we'll be announcing the candidates for school president. The candidates will have the remaining weeks of the summer to, as per Riverdale tradition, compete for this trophy."

Cheryl holds up the trophy.

_A trophy. A cheerleader, standing on top of a pedestal._

_"Take that back right now!" Betty cries._

"Whoever has the trophy gets a recommendation to the principal. We'll hold a vote when we get back to school in August. The vote should technically decide who is the president, but the principal has the final say, and trust me, he always picks the one with the trophy.

"As we all know, school president is the highest honor here. Both Jason and I have claimed this position."

Cheryl nods at her brother. They have the same Blossom family red hair and doll-like smile.

"The five candidates for school president are as follows."

Archie holds his breath.

"Betty Cooper!"

Betty, who's seated in front of Archie, smiles proudly. Her ponytail bounces as she stands up and walks to the pedestal where Cheryl is standing.

"Kevin Keller!" Kevin high-fives Archie as he walks up.

"Reggie Mantle!" Reggie pumps his fist as he stands up. Archie grins at him as he saunters towards the front of the gym.

"Veronica Lodge!" The second-to-last pick. Archie holds his breath.

"And…Archie Andrews!"

 _Yes!_ Archie stands up proudly and heads to the front of the gym, high-fiving some of his teammate sas he walks past them. The crowd of students cheers. Cheryl smiles at him as he lines up beside the others.

"To get the trophy, the students will help the school as much as they can to prove that they're worthy of the title of school president.

"This concludes the assembly! Thank you for attending. Remember to turn in your course selection sheets."

As the students stand up and started streaming out of the gym, Cheryl turns to the five candidates. "Good luck," she says, smirking.

She winks at Archie, who cocks his head, confused. He watches Cheryl sashay out of the gym next to Principal Weatherbee.

Archie feels a tapping on his shoulder. He turns to see a familiar blonde grinning at him.

"Oh, hey, Betty."

"Congrats on the nomination," Betty says, smiling sweetly at Archie.

"Thanks!" he replies. "I have to get to English, but I'll see you around, okay?"

"Sure!" Betty walks away, ponytail bouncing.

 

Archie arrives at English and takes his usual seat in the back of the room. The students are still talking about the assembly and their course selections. He feels eyes on him and looks to his left to see Jughead glaring at him from a desk away.

"Oh, hey, Jughead, I—"

"School president, huh?" Jughead smirks.

"Yeah."

Jughead keeps glaring.

"Look, I told you, I'm sorry for ditching you!"

"You ditched a road trip that we'd been planning for _months_. And for some stupid party? I wonder why I was surprised. It says everything about you, Archie."

Archie just stares at his desk.

 

* * *

 

_"Betty."_

_"I never agreed to this! I'll say that in court. I will. I can't rot in jail!"_

_"Betty, I just want you to move your feet."_

_Betty stares at Kevin. "What?"_

_Kevin sighs. "Let's just get the hell out of here. Archie, help me carry this thing."_

_Archie grunts as he strains to lift the body, wrapped in a carpet. The group struggles as they attempt to carry the body to the door of the house. Archie barely manages to open the door and they maneuver down the steps._

_"Hey, what are you kids doing?"_

_They freeze. A gardener is standing at the bottom of the steps, staring at the group carrying the carpet._

_Veronica speaks up. "Ms. Blossom just wanted us to take this old carpet to the bonfire on Wrigley Street. You know, summer cleaning and stuff."_

_The gardener looks at them strangely. He shrugs. "Okay."_

_Archie closes his eyes and exhales in relief._


	2. i will remember you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look. this is dramatic as unrealistic as fuck. but we're talking about riverdale here. this show is downright ridiculous. i'm only watching it because a) im jughead fictionkin, b) there are So Many good gay ships, and c) because it's dramatic and i'm dramatic so let me do what i want with this fic.

 

> _Courtyard, 3 PM. -CB_

Archie furrows his eyebrows as he reads the text. Glancing over to Kevin, who's sitting next to him at the lunch table, he sees a similar expression on his face.

"Did you just get this text?" Kevin asks. He hold up his phone and Archie reads the same message on the screen.

"Yeah," Archie says.

"What are you guys talking about?" The inquiry from Smith, one of Archie's football teammates, causes Archie and Kevin to redden and stuff their phones in their pockets.

"Nothing. Just a, uh, school thing. With Cheryl, you know."

"Okay." Smith shrugs and goes back to playing fuck/marry/kill with Jason. Funnily enough, none of the football players seem perturbed by Kevin's presence, probably due to the fact that he's strangely chummy with Moose.

Archie turns back to Kevin. "Have you figured out what you're going to do?"

"Sort of. But I probably shouldn't tell you too much. We are running against each other, after all." Kevin winks. Archie laughs uncomfortably.

"Let's just see Cheryl at 3 and figure it out from there, okay?" Kevin says.

"Sure, man." Archie nods at him. Checking the clock, he realizes he has only 30 minutes until the appointment. "See you then."

 

The courtyard seems somewhat eerie. Cheryl is sitting on a bench, still as a statue. Her plastic, perfect smile matches her bright red dress. She's strangely doll-like in her demeanor, which makes Archie uncomfortable.

"Glad you came!" Her eyes sparkle as they lock onto Archie, Betty, Kevin, Reggie, and Veronica in turn. The teens look at each other uneasily.

"What do you want?" Veronica says accusingly.

"Well, Elsa of Arendelle, I just want you to help me out a bit. See, the Blossom family is in a spot of trouble right now."

Archie shares a sideways glance with Betty. Where is this going?

"What kind of trouble?" Reggie asks.

"Well," says Cheryl, "My brother is under accusations of being in a relationship with Polly Cooper, which would be the cause of her running away."

"What?!" Betty cries.

"But Polly ran away five years ago. That doesn't make sense." Archie adds.

"Exactly," says Cheryl. "But there's some so-called evidence. Someone found a love letter from Polly to my brother before my brother did, and they reported it. It was dated two days ago."

Kevin exhales. "My dad didn't tell me about this."

Archie turns to Betty. "You didn't tell me about this!"

"It's private!" Betty says. "Look, I don't know Polly! I don't want her near me! She messed up my family!"

"Well, I need your help to prove that this didn't happen. That Jason had nothing to do with Polly. And don't worry…I've got the trophy in my locker, so whoever is of assistance gets a good word in." Cheryl winks.

Archie stares at her uncomprehendingly. "You want us…to try to prove that your brother was uninvolved with the missing Cooper sister?"

"What the hell is going on in your family?" Veronica sand, disgusted. "Your brother falls in love with a girl that's been missing for five years and you ask some random students to try to prove that it didn't happen? How and why are we supposed to do this?"

"That's simple!" Cheryl says. "I just need you to find a witness who can prove that the instance never happened. And as for the why? Well, whoever wins this trophy gets something special.

"I've decided to up the stakes a little and offer up…The Blossom family blessing."

Kevin gasps slightly. "The famous Blossom family blessing of a thousand dollars and legal and social support indefinitely? The same blessing that has been given to three people in history, one of whom includes the current standing mayor?!"

Cheryl smiles. "That's the one."

"Holy shit," Reggie says in awe.

Archie finds that he's having a hard time processing the information. He knows that the Blossoms are a famous family that get into a lot of drama, but…to this extent?

Amd what about this Polly thing?

Veronica scoffs. "I get into enough family drama on my own. I don't need the Blossoms to get involved, too."

"Are you kidding?" Reggie says excitedly. "I am SO in!"

"Brickhead is right," Cheryl says. "What about you, Troy Bolton?" She looks at Archie.

"Uh." Archie stutters.

"Great! Mary Jane?" She turns to Betty.

"I'll think about it," Betty mumbles.

"GBF?"

Kevin blinks. "Uh, yeah. I'm in. I'll talk to a Serpent I know."

"And…ice queen?"

Veronica glares at her. "A thousand dollars huh?"

Cheryl smiles.

Veronica sighs. "Fine. I'll see what I can do for your stupid…case, or whatever."

"Fantastic! I wish you all the best of luck!" And with that, Cheryl walked away.

 

"Okay, what the fuck?" Betty cries. She's pacing back and forth in front of her mirror, arms crossed, with That expression. The one that Archie knows means that she is thinking far too much.

"Calm down, Betty," he says, trying to ease her. "Look, you said it yourself. The Polly case is dead. She's gone. We know that she didn't have any connections with Jason. We just need to prove it and we get the Blossom blessing!"

Archie feels a little bad about wanting the money so much. Sure, it's a thousand dollars from the most powerful family in the area, but what does he have to do to get it?

"This is stupid," Betty mutters. "I can't believe the Polly case is resurfacing. I'm so over all of it."

"We just need to help the Blossoms figure it out. Then it'll be all over."

Betty sighs. "I don't know what to think right now, honestly."

"You don't have to figure it out now," Archie says sincerely. "I should get home, but I'll try to swing by tomorrow and we can try to figure out what's going on."

Betty nods wordlessly. Archie smiles gently at her, patting her arm as he walks out the door.

 

He's at dinner with his father when he gets the news.

"Dad, what's going on?" he asks. It's unusual for Fred to take a call in the middle of dinner, so it must be important. "Did something happen?"

His dad is staring at the screen vacantly, uncomprehendingly.

"Dad?"

Archie stand up and walks around the table, positioning himself over the phone. There's a text, from Sheriff Keller, he sees, a gray bubble and the word—

Fred looks up at his son. "Archie, Polly Cooper was found dead."

**Author's Note:**

> blease give me feedback!! (tfw you have ridiculously complex plots but can't concentrate enough to turn it into a good story bc adhd)


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